Improvement in tops for wire ropes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. ROEBLING, OF SAXONBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

`IMPROVEIVIENT IN TOPS FOR WIRE ROPES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 6,082, dated February 6, 1849.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. ROEBLING, civil engineer, of Saxonburg, Butler county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Top for the Formation of lVire Strands which are to Compose Tire Rope; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

The tool used in hemp-rope making and known by the name of top is generally formed of a conical piece of wood or metal with furrows on its surface for the admission of three or four strands, of which a rope is to be composed. A hemp rope is made of hemp strands, the strands being either made of smaller strands or yarns.

For the laying of yarns into strands a plate perforated with holes arranged in concentric circles is used instead of a top. IV ire strands, on the other hand, are formed ot' a number of wires, which number must be either three, seven, nineteen, thirty-one, dto., so that their union forms .a circle or a six-sided polygon, which is next to a circle.

In the accompanying` drawings, Figure 4: shows the section of a strand composed of three wires. Fig. 5 shows a strand composed of seven wires, and Fig. 6 one of nineteen wires.

Strands of three or seven wires I denominate csimple, and those of nineteen or thirtyone wires compound.7

If. wires could as easily and readily be united as hemp yarns, then a simple perforated plate with holes arranged in concentric circles, and such as is used in the manufacture of hemp strands, might be applied to advantage.

Before I introduced my improved top I made use of a similar tool, but found its application attended with much labor and loss of time in order to attain that degree of perfection which is so indispensable in the laying of wire strands.

Fig. I in the accompanying drawings shows a side view of my improved top, together with a Wire strand of nineteen wires, in the process of laying on a full scale. Fig. 2 showsa back view, exhibiting the nineteen wires in section. Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken at Y Y near the point a. The general form of my top is that of an egg cut off at one end. The nineteen wires exhibited in Fig. 2 are marked from I to I9. The center wire is passed through a hole bored through the center or axis. Around this hole twelve deep notches will be observed, which are cut in the surface of the top, one half of which vary from the other half in point of depth and extent. This latter difference is of great importance. Six of the deepest notches are continued to the point, .and therefore appear plainlyin the section represented by Fig. The other six, less deep, run out at the line X X, so as to leave the surface of the top from this line to the point smooth between the former notches. The object of this arrangement is to facilitate the laying o f several concentric circles of wires around each other, as is shown in the section of a compound strand represented by the sixth figure. The projection bc serves as a shoulder against the clasp de when the lat-V ter is pushing the top forward.

The top is used in .the following manner: The center wire (marked I) is iirst passed through the center hole. The six next Wires, which compose the inner or rst circle around the center, (marked from 2 to 7,) are then dropped into the deepest notches. Next comes the second circle of wires, (marked from 8 to 13,) which are passed in the six other notches, which are less deep than the former. A band of wire (marked fg) is then laid around the twelve wires, so as to secure them in their respective notches. wires, which compose the third or outside circle, are then laid in the deep set of notches, but on top-of the wire band fg, for the purpose of separating the second and third circle of wires. The clasp de is then put around the whole and so as to rest against the shoulder bc. It is evident that the first set ot' notches, which receive the first circle of wires, should be deeper and farther extended toward the point than the second set. By this arrangement the wires of the first circle will unite and close around the center wire before they come in contact with the second course, and therefore no commingling can take place. The rst circle being closed, the wires of the second and third circle will readily follow, and without any tendency to displace each other, as they are kept properly apart and distinct by the ridges which separate the The next six notches. If the two sets of notches Were of the same depth and continued equally far toward the point, the Wiresof the first circle would be constantly intruded upon and displaced by those of the second and third circle. In place of the wire band fg a third row of notches may be cut on the surface of the top for the reception of the third circle of Wires;

, nor is it material that in this case the second and third sets of notches should vary in depth and extent, provided the iii-st set is deeper and of a greater extent than the rest. When, however, more than nineteen wires are tobe united-for instance, thirtypne-then it becomes necessary that the second set of notches should be deeper and further extended to- Ward the point than the third set. The fourth and fth sets, however, may in that case be of the same depth, but bot-h of less depth and extent than No. 3.

' In my manufacture, when making a strand of nineteen wires, I sometimes use the wire band fg, and I place the second circle of Wires outside of this band in the deepest notches and the third'circle in the shallow notches under the band.

The top may either be carried by two meu or it may be mounted on a carriage which is moving` on a railway and may be propelled by machinery. Tops for the laying of wire should be either cast of hard metal or chilled.

What I claim as new and as my original invention is 1. The construction of a conical top with two or more circles of notches which vary in depth and extent, so as to suit the passage of the different cincles of wires which are to compose a compound strand, thereby uniting the advantages of a perforated plate with the easy curves of a common top.

2. The application of one or more rings or bands similar to fg for the purpose of keeping the different circles of wires apart, as Well as to keep the wires separate among themselves, the whole to be arranged and to work in substance as above described.

JOHN A. ROEBLING.

In presence of- C. W. M. KELLER, E. P. MCGREA. 

